Optical (Toslink) and Coaxial cable, Which will support 5.1 surround?

Question

I have my self a satellite reciever that has both optical (toslink) and coaxial outputs. My 5.1 channel reciever has those inputs. What cable can carry 5.1 surround to my reciever so i can get surround sound broadcasted in my living room for the football games?!!! Help!

Better question...

Can Coaxial carry 5.1 surround over its cord?

Can Optical (toslink) carry 5.1 surround over its cord?

thanks

Answer 1

Sorry Daniel, you are wrong on Coax being Analog.  Coax is NOT analog, it's EXACTLY the same as far as transmitting PCM 2 channel stereo AND Dolby Digital/DTS.  In fact some audiophiles will invest in pure Silver Digital Coax cables for a more superior sound, since Fiber Optics can refract inside the tube introducing Jitter.  I worked in a High-End THeater store for years and had customers like you asking me these questions.  

Anyways to answer your question, Yes, BOTH cables will support 5.1 Surround sound.  Make sure you go into your Set-Top Box and make sure it's outputting "Bitstream" or "Dolby Digital" on it's Digital out.  You can invest as much $$$$ as you want on a Fiber Optic cable,  but it will not do you any good if it's outputting stereo.  Reason why companies do this is alot of times these are also being hooked up to regular stereos, which go off of Stereo as a default.  

Are you running satellite or Cable?  If you can mention you model number of your box, I can pretty much tell you off the bat what to set up ahead of time.

Answer 2

Both the optical cable and the digital coaxial have the ability to support true 5.1 surround sound.  Out of the two, you want to use the fiber-optic cable.  The digital coaxial is an older, analog connection.  The fiber-optic cable is a light source, and is not interrupted by outside interferences.  Just be cautious not to crease or bend the optical cable to the point where it breaks on the inside and interrupts the signal transmission.

In regards to getting 5.1 surround sound on your receiver for football games, I am assuming that you are subscribing to High Definition because your satellite receiver has the optical and coaxial connections.  The good news is that HD programming supports 5.1 surround sound, so you should get 5.1 while watching anything in HD.

Answer 3

Both  cables support 5.1, problem is that unless you are receiving HDTV signal your football games will not be in 5.1 but 2.0

If you switch your mode from Dolby Digital to either Dolby Pro logic 1 or 2, it won't be as good as 5.1 but it will be as good as it can get.

Answer 4

they can both do more or less the same thing-have the same specs and are both digital-i would go for the fibre-optic version as this is less subsebticle to outside influences (mains cables in close proximity for example).

Answer 5

Sloth right!

Both carry the digital signal and can carry Dolby Digital, DTS and support 5.1 or 6.1 recordings.  Many think that one is superior to the other but unless you are an audiophile with superb equipment it won't matter. Technically they both carry a PCM (pulse code modulation) signal. In both cases they start out as electrical impulses. In the case of optical it is switched to a light signal and then back again at the other end. In the case of Coax it just stays as electrical impulses the whole way. For this reason some audiophiles have preferred Coax. The drawback is that Coax is subject to RF interferance unlike optical. So Coax is better, because it bypasses the conversion process twice, as long as it is a high quality cable. for standard quality cables optical tends to be better. The difference in quality are minor though and I don't expect most to care.

Oh yeah! you want it for football? Don't worry about it. Trust me, they don't have mikes all aroung the stadium just to get a correct 5.1 mix. Your receiver will take the 2.0 audio and create surround with the Dolby Pro-Logic processor(If it is a Dolby Pro-Logic 2 receiver even better as it has a Game mode that works well with sports)